---
title: "SpaceX Is Sending Living Bits of Human Organs to Space"
description: "Four tissue chips designed to mimic various processes in the human body are headed to the International Space Station to help scientists study disease."
date: "2019-05-03"
modified: "2019-05-03"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-sending-human-organs-space"
categories:
  - "Space"
  - "SpaceX"
tags:
  - "international space station"
  - "organ-on-a-chip"
  - "SpaceX"
  - "the digest"
---

# SpaceX Is Sending Living Bits of Human Organs to Space

![Four tissue chips designed to mimic various process in the human body are headed to the International Space Station to help scientists study disease.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/tissue-chips-living-human-organs-space.png>)
*\<em\>Image: Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Rocket Chips

If all goes according to plan, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch from Cape Canaveral early Saturday morning with the goal of helping deliver more than 5,500 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) — including tiny bits of human organs.

The special delivery is part of the [Tissue Chips in Space Initiative](<https://ncats.nih.gov/news/releases/2019/tissue-chips-in-space>), a project designed to help scientists observe human biology in the unique environment of space — a frontier of medical knowledge that could help us battle disease here on Earth.

## Acceleration Station

The scientists are sending four tissue chips to the ISS, each containing human cells configured to model different parts of the human body: kidneys, bone and cartilage, lung and bone marrow, and the blood-brain barrier.

Because [microgravity causes changes](<https://youtu.be/8kLw0mKU6Zk>) in human cells that look like accelerated disease progression and [aging](<https://futurism.com/zero-gravity-astronauts-brains-age-faster>), studying these chips in space allows scientists to see over the course of just a few weeks changes that would take months on Earth.

## Return Mission

The chips will remain on the ISS for about a month. Then they'll return to Earth for 18 months before heading back to the ISS — this time so scientists can use them to test possible drug therapies.

"It’s cutting-edge science," ISS National Lab's deputy chief scientist Michael Roberts [told *Inverse*](<https://www.inverse.com/article/55397-tissues-in-space-initiative-launch>). "For me, it all begins with the excitement of doing good science and utilizing the unique environment of space."

**READ MORE:** [Living Bits of Human Organs Are Headed to Space to Save More Lives on Earth](<https://www.inverse.com/article/55397-tissues-in-space-initiative-launch>) \[*Inverse*\]

**More on microgravity:** *[Alarming Research: Zero Gravity Makes Astronauts’ Brains Age Faster](<https://futurism.com/zero-gravity-astronauts-brains-age-faster>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)